


the first time he kissed a boy

by feuertatze



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: 3+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - No Ghosts, Christmas gift, Communication, Concerts, Fluff, Handholding, M/M, Mild Internalized Homophobia, Soft Boys, alex and willie are in love, alex wants and willie does, art exhibitions, author has no idea about a) skating b) photography c) concert backstages, involves no christmas, no actual kissing, other major characters are mentioned - Freeform, photography nerd willie, the willex holiday special
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:34:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28319784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feuertatze/pseuds/feuertatze
Summary: Three times Alex wanted to do something and one time Willie did it for him.
Relationships: Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 90





	the first time he kissed a boy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AnisChaos363](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnisChaos363/gifts).



> this was written as a christmas gift for my best friend.
> 
> hopefully it hits all the willex soft spots, merry christmas and thanks for the support through this wild ride of a year!

_I._

Alex watches Willie skate up to him on the beach promenade, gracefully dodging runners and tangled dog leashes. He lifts a hand, drumstick still in it, to greet him. It’s something of a nervous habit, fiddling with his drumsticks, tapping rhythms with them as a way to relieve nerves. As Willie reaches him, he scoots over on the low wall he’s sitting on to make space for him. 

Willie readily sits down, taking his helmet off and shaking his hair free as is his habit. 

Alex swallows hard. 

Willie’s hair always looks so soft and now there’s a knot right where Alex can see it. It’s going to be annoying later, Alex recalls only too well from his own days of longer hair. Not this long hair, but long enough for nasty knots. 

_You should unwind it for him_ , his mind unhelpfully supplies. _No, that’s weird_ , another part of his mind objects.  
“What’s up?”, Willie interrupts his internal debate. Alex almost jumps, too caught up in his own mind. 

He scrambles for words and eventually comes up with: “Not much, just - uh, band things. What about you?” 

He sighs internally. _Way to go, dude._ Willie doesn’t take his awkwardness badly, instead, he starts talking about some new photography exhibit in the city he wants to see. Alex finds it unusually hard to focus on what Willie is saying, even though he normally likes to listen to whatever he has to say, mind wandering to Willie’s hair not fifteen inches away from his. He wonders if it’s as soft as it looks.

_II._

Willie cheers the loudest in the crowd, clearly audible through the rest of the people clapping and cheering. Alex can feel himself grin, high on both the adrenaline of a gig and the joy of Willie being there to watch them perform. 

After the bows and some more goofing around on stage, Luke slaps his shoulder and shoves him not so gently into the back room, where Flynn is waiting with carbonated drinks for Julie and water for the rest of them (No more sugar for them after performances, they’ve found out the hard way). She cheers loudly as Julie enters the room and says to Luke, Reggie and Alex: “Amazing performance tonight, you got those people _amped_ up! And I think Ray got fire footage for the next live video on the channel!” 

Alex only understands about half of those words, but he doesn’t particularly try as hard as he usually would when Flynn talks to them, because he’s just spotted Willie walking past the door to the room.

“Excuse me for a second,”, he tells the others and slips out of the room into the corridor where a couple of stage people are busy sorting out cables and lights and Willie stands a little lost right in the middle. 

“Hey!”, Alex calls and the way Willie’s face lights up makes his stomach flutter with butterflies. _He’s so far gone for this boy_ , he distantly thinks while Willie comes to hug him tightly.  
“You were so good, I loved your solo during _Stand Tall_ ”, he exclaims when they separate again. 

Alex’ smile impossibly gets even bigger. He knows Willie isn’t the biggest fan of crowds of loud and screaming people and he appreciates him coming anyway. For _him_ . He spins the drumstick still in one of his hands and lets himself imagine smiling at Willie from the stage, winking at him when he sings to an imaginary boyfriend in _Late Last Night_. Imagines himself holding his hand backstage, slinging his arm around his shoulders, burying his face in the crook of his neck-

“Willie!”, Reggie yells behind him and interrupts Willie who was about to say something else. 

“Hey, how’s it going?”, Willie cheerfully yells back and then Reggie drags him and Alex back into the green room. 

They’re sitting and standing and leaning on and against various furniture in the room, coming down from the high of the show, talking and laughing for a couple more hours until the staff kicks them out to clean and close up for the night. The entire time Alex thinks about taking Willie’s hand and leaning against his shoulder and running his hand through his brown hair, finally finding out how soft it really is.

_III._

“See, this is where I don’t get it. Why did they use this lens for this one and not the 125mm which is _obviously_ superior-”, Willie goes on, gesturing animatedly while Alex feels a smile tug on his life. He has no idea what photo Willie is even talking about because he can’t tear his eyes away from him. He’s so clearly passionate, single-mindedly focused on the exhibition pieces, appreciating and Alex won’t lie, he looks pretty hot like this. It’s mesmerizing to watch him. The curve of his lips is sharp and gentle at the same time, the corner of his mouth ever so slightly crooked and unconsciously turned upwards as it does whenever he thinks intensely about something. _God, he would like to kiss those lips, tangle his hands into this soft hair-_  
“-What is it?”, Willie abruptly asks, suddenly turned towards him. 

Alex laughs, feeling a little caught in the act. 

“Nothing.”

“Alex-”

“Fine! I just think you’re-”

He stops. 

_There are other people around them, what will they think if he calls a boy “hot” in public? What if someone overhears him? What if-_

“-pretty competent”, he finishes lamely. 

Willie frowns a little, clearly able to tell he was about to say something else. Fortunately, he seems to recognize Alex is uncomfortable and drops it. 

While they walk through the rest of the exhibition, Alex can’t stop thinking about Willie’s lips, about their curve - _kissing Willie’s lips, kissing Willie_. 

He wishes he was brave enough to do so, to not feel equally scared and excited when he thinks about it. 

_\+ 1_

“Alex, what is it?”, Willie asks softly.

“I haven’t actually kissed a guy before”, Alex says in a quiet voice and avoids Willie’s eyes. 

Instead, he looks down onto where they’re sitting on a bench outside the museum, Willie’s skateboard leaned against its side. 

_What if Willie doesn’t want to pursue this thing between them any further now? Who wants to be with someone as inexperienced as him anyway? He will get up any second now and perfectly politely say that he has something important to do he forgot about him and that he will call him later and then he will skate off and never call Alex back and he’ll never see him again-_

Willie nudges his shoulder with his. That makes Alex look up. Willie is smiling encouragingly at him and Alex feels his racing thoughts slow down.

“It’s fine, Alex! We can take this slow, go at our own pace.”

“Aren’t you, I don’t know, disappointed or tired of me or-”, Alex hears himself say before he feels Willie taking his hand in his. That shuts him right up, even as the rest of his panic feels slightly stuck in his throat. 

“Alex”, Willie says in this calming way of his, “I’m fine with how this is going. I won’t get bored of you anytime soon and it’s okay to go slow. I understand that this is difficult for you, we don’t have to kiss if you’re not ready,” Alex feels heat rush into his face at that, “or even think about going further.” 

Alex is blushing furiously now and Willie smiles at the sight of his red face before he gets serious again. 

“ _Do_ you want to kiss me?” Alex visibly almost chokes and Willie quickly adds: “Not _now_ , but eventually.”

Alex looks at him, his soft, perpetually tousled hair and kind smiles and his always so intense eyes. _Yes_ , he wants to kiss him, badly, he thinks. He’s not sure if he would manage to, right now, there are _people around them what will the people think_ \- 

“Yes, I think so”, he manages through the impending panic and _screw_ the people around them, _screw_ expectations how a relationship should go, because then the smile on Willie’s face, the way his eyes light up, the _fucking_ breeze that blows his hair out of his face like they’re in a movie tell him he said the right thing because if this feeling isn’t falling in love, then he doesn’t know what is. 

**Author's Note:**

> wishing you all happy holidays if you celebrate or a pleasant long weekend and hopefully cosy weather if you don't!  
> 
> 
> find me on tumblr @elgoeshollywood.


End file.
